


Once, and Always

by Ghostinthehouse



Series: Sheathed Claws [1]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Dark Is Rising Sequence - Susan Cooper
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-24 22:53:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13821168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostinthehouse/pseuds/Ghostinthehouse
Summary: A conversation in passing gives Will hope.





	Once, and Always

Will leans against the doorway, waiting for Bran to finish talking to the other undergrads so that they can grab lunch between lectures. They aren't in the same classes, but they both have an hour free between Bran's Politics and Will's History. A discreet cough beside him makes him turn and he sees the lecturer. 

"Sorry," he mutters, and gets out of her way. He almost turns away again. She's Bran's teacher, not his. There is something, though, about her height and silvered hair, her air of authority, and just a touch of hidden power, as gentle as a cat's sheathed claws. It reminds him of Miss Greythorne and a small pang goes through him at the memory. "Ma'am."

She looks at Will, then follows his gaze to Bran, still holding court with the others. "Once a king or queen," she murmurs, almost to herself, "always a king or queen..."

Will gives her a sharp look, suddenly much older than his years. "Do you know?" he murmurs very softly in the Old Speech. He hasn't used the Old Speech in years. There isn't anyone left who would understand him if he did. For a moment, hope rises. Then it dies again as she shakes her head.

"Your world is not my world," she tells him in a tone patterned to sound like polite small talk between strangers, "but I am not unfamiliar with people being older inside than they appear on the outside."

Once a king, always a king, Will thinks and his gaze drifts back to Bran. "Even if they forget?"

"Even if they forget. Good-day." She vanishes past him into an office and the door closes.

He looks after her for a moment, but then Bran finally comes bounding over. "Sorry about that," Bran tells Will. "Professor Pevensie gives the best lectures! All her example situations have so much to unpick..."


End file.
